Urban and peri-urban agriculture is becoming increasingly important as a source of income and food for the urban population in South Africa. This study was prompted by concerns of city authorities that soil compaction in horticultural fields that used conventional tillage practices with tractors was, not only limiting the performance of fruit and vegetable crops, but also affecting the quality ...

In the 1996 Winter issue of Fruit Notes, we reported results of our 1995 research on plum curculio responses to unbaited “Tedders” traps. These traps are pyramidal in shape, dark in color, and are placed on the ground. They capture curculios that arrive on the trap surface and subsequently crawl upward to the tip, where they enter an inverted screen funnel (a cotton boll weevil trap top) placed...

ABSTRACT Apple replant disease typically is managed through pre-plant application of broad-spectrum soil fumigants including methyl bromide. The impending loss or restricted use of soil fumigants and the needs of an expanding organic tree fruit industry necessitate the development of alternative control measures. The microbial community resident in a wheat field soil was shown to suppress compo...

Photosynthetic light acclimation of leaves can result from (i) changes in mass-based leaf nitrogen concentration, Nm, (ii) changes in leaf mass:area ratio, Ma, and (iii) partitioning of total leaf nitrogen among different pools of the photosynthetic machinery. We studied variations in Nm and Ma within the crowns of two peach (Prunus persica L. Batsch) trees grown in an orchard in Portugal, and ...

The estimation of site water budget is important in Mediterranean areas, where it represents a crucial factor affecting the quantity and quality of traditional crop production. This is particularly the case for spatially fragmented, multi-layer agricultural ecosystems such as olive groves, which are traditional cultivations of the Mediterranean basin. The current paper aims at demonstrating the...

The effectiveness of two different types of pheromone release systems in disrupting OBLR mating and subsequently preventing fruit damage were compared in 2.6–5.6-acre blocks in three commercial orchards in western NY: (1) Microsprayers (aerosol spray-burst devices, MSU), one application setup for the summer (Doyle and Oakes orchards); (2) Paraffin-based pheromone emulsions (Agrium), one applica...

The effects of silicon (Si) amendment have been studied in several plant/pathogen interactions; however, studies in horticultural tree crops are limited. Effects of amendment with soluble potassium silicate (AgSil®32, approximately 30% available Si), or milled cement building board by-products (Mineral Mulch (MM) or Mineral Dust (MD), containing 5% available Si) were investigated in field and g...

This study was conducted in 2008-2010 in three apple orchards in western Poland and involved a massive catch of the red-belted clearwing moth, Synanthedon myopaeformis (Borkhausen) (Lepidoptera: Sesiidae), and its parasitoid Liotryphon crassiseta (Thomson) (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) in yellow Moericke traps. The flight time for both species was correlated and fell in the first half of July. H...

fleas are the most common and important external parasites worldwide and also serves as vectors of various pathogens for humans and animals. the study aimed to determine the prevalence of pulex irritants in sheep herds and residential areas of villages in kurdsitan province, iran. a total of 2,900 sheep were randomly selected from 48 flocks and 630 residential areas of 18 villages from november...